It’s FOCA, Not the Stupid Economy!

Life Matters
by Dr. Linda Powell

I can think of 500,000 reasons why I will not vote for Obama in November! 

There are 1.3 million womb babies killed in the US each year.  There would be at least 500,000 more killed during an Obama presidency.  He has already promised Planned Parenthood that one of his first presidential acts would be to sign FOCA into law.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)

FOCA’s key provision is that “it is the policy of the United States that every woman has a fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.”  So, a “government” (which is undefined in the act) may not “deny or interfere” (also undefined in the act) with a “woman’s right to choose” or “discriminate “(also undefined) against the “exercise of these rights.”

In general, if FOCA is enacted, it would wipe out virtually every existing state law on abortion and override 35 years of jurisprudence on the subject.  It is written so broadly that some of the laws that would be invalidated would be informed consent laws, parental notification laws, laws promoting maternal health if they result in abortions costing more, and abortion clinic regulations.  Our tax dollars would go to provide abortions.  Laws that protect the rights of conscience for doctors, nurses, and medical personnel in general could be overturned,  partial birth abortion would be legal again, waiting periods would be outlawed, and physicians would not be required to keep records with respect to abortions performed. 

FOCA is a radical measure

FOCA is out of touch with the majority of Americans who want some limits on abortion.  FOCA would undo all the “incremental” legislation that we, in the pro-life movement, were told was the only way we could limit abortions in this country.  If FOCA is passed and signed into law, would we, who have always believed in and promoted a constitutional amendment to protect all life from conception to natural death, feel vindicated?  No, it would be very, very sad.  We have been advancing the ball down a field where the other side wasn’t even in the same stadium.  The intent of the pro-death crowd has always been unlimited abortions for no reason or any reason and for you and me, the taxpayers, to pay for them. 

We gave our elected officials in Washington, who claimed to be pro-life, a pass.  Many national groups supported them even though they believed that babies can be killed if they were conceived in rape or incest.  Many Catholic bishops didn’t enforce Canon Law and allowed Catholic senators and representatives to continue to scandalize the Catholic faithful.  So now, if BO is elected, we’ll have FOCA. 

On the local level, in the last Georgia Assembly, our pro-life representatives couldn’t get a resolution out of committee.  This resolution would have put personhood into the Georgia constitution when people would have voted for it.  Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the Archdiocese of Atlanta joined forces against it, albeit for different reasons, but the result was the same.  Now, we’ll have FOCA.

In Georgia, we have some of those incremental laws like the Woman’s Right to Know, parental notification, and the Ultrasound Act.  It took 15 years and a lot of money and sweat equity for the Woman’s Right to Know Law to pass.  And, now we’ll have FOCA.

The Scale

Imagine going up to Obama and saying to him, “Oh, you think that it is all right to abuse children in the privacy of your own home, but what is your stand on the economy?”  We wouldn’t care what he had to say about the economy!  We would send him and Biden packing.  Abused children would outweigh anything else he had to say.  Fifty million dead babies outweigh $4.00 gasoline.  In fact, fifty million dead babies outweigh just about everything that is happening right now.  In fact, what is happening right now could be the result of killing our children.

Think about it.

Comments

[Kevin]

Roe vs Wade became law while Nixon was President. Ford, Reagan, and Bush I and II were all anti-abortion Republicans. Republicans have controlled the Congress for most of that time. We have a conservative Supreme Court. What difference do you think a McCain presidency will make?

[George Dienhart]

Kevin-

The supreme court is not a conservative court. If it was Roe would have been overturned and the issue of abortion would reside with the indivdual states- where it belongs.

[Psych Doc]

Kevin, Roe v Wade is NOT a law. It was a Supreme Court ruling and a bad one at that. Only our legislators can make laws; not our courts. Drives me crazy when people do not understand the balance of powers in the Constitution. Or, understand, for that matter, that the Courts are usurping the powers of the people to make the laws through their elected officials or through their own vote. FOCA is most dangerous because it would turn Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton into a federal law and take more power away from the state. Regarding Republicans versus Democrats--Democrats have always been more pro-death than Republicans have been pro-life. That's why I'm an Independent and I vote my Christian, biblical values.

[Nathan Franz]

Why should a medical practice be up to the state level?

Giving people the right to choose abortion isn't taking the power away from anyone, it's giving people the power of choice. If you don't like abortion you don't have to do it, no one is forcing you to abort your babies so quit acting like they are.

[George Dienhart]

No one is acting like we are being forced to have abortions- your reply shows a complete lack of understanding on the issue. BTW, who should have a choice over whether you live of die? I know the baby doesnt have a say in an abortion...

[Nathan Franz]

You're giving the right to the person carrying the baby whether or not it gets past the goo stage. The real meat of Roe v Wade isn't 100% abortion, it's about patient rights and I would rather that be mandated by the fed then the local governments.

Leaving the choice to the state doesn't eliminate the issue. People will either go across state lines to get it done or do it in shadier ways.

[George Dienhart]

Goo stage? Just curious- at what point it is a person we are talking about?

[Psych Doc]

Yeah! At what point, Nathan, did you become a person? At birth? Why would you have more personhood at birth? Peter Singer thinks that parents should be able to kill their babies up to 6 months of age. Is that all right with you? If not, why not? Because a baby is a human being? Then, if the conceptus is a human being (and we have SCIENTIFIC evidence that it is) then why should anyone be able to kill it as a matter of convenience? I believe that I became a person at conception. And I will remain a person until my natural death.
You know, it's amazing how the generation that brought us "free sex" (an oxymoron, if I ever heard one)and birth control, and infidelity, and abortion will be the first in line to be euthanized in their old age because of the disrespect for human life caused by the very things that they advocated.

[Matt]

I totally agree. The media and so many people are focused way too much on the economy and not enough on real serious issues like abortion and euthenasia and peace within the family. I agree who cares if gasoline is 4 bucks a gallon if countless children die. Our priorities are all mixed up.

[George Dienhart]

Thanks Matt.